Whale that Inspired ‘Baby Beluga’ Song Dies

Handout/Vancouver Aquarium-Margaret Butschler(VANCOUVER) -- The beluga whale that inspired the popular children’s song “Baby Beluga,” died Monday at the Vancouver Aquarium. At 46 years old, she spent her entire life at the aquarium, and lived much longer than the average beluga whale.

A preliminary autopsy shows Kavna likely died of cancer. Aquarium veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena told reporters the lesions and tumors he found “are most consistent with cancer, and that is unfortunately a disease we associate with age,” Citytv reports. Belugas typically live 25 to 30 years.

Since 1979, Kavna has been associated with the song “Baby Beluga,” about a baby whale playing in the sea. Singer/songwriter Raffi Cavoukian visited the aquarium, and was inspired to write the song about a baby beluga like Kavna:

“Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, swim so wild and you swim so free. Heaven above and the sea below, and a little white whale on the go.”

Cavoukian told Vancouver’s News1130 he was inspired to write the song after the whale’s trainer helped him play with Kavna.

“She had a profound impact on me when I met her in 1979,” Cavoukian said. “Kavna even came out of the water and placed a gentle, graceful kiss on my cheek and I couldn’t stop talking about it for a couple weeks.”

The song is about a free whale living in the sea, although Kavna spent her entire life in captivity.

Further tests are planned on Kavna, to rule out other possible causes of death, like bacteria and fungi. Kavna was the third beluga to die at the aquarium in recent years.